A Winter Haunting

A once-respected college professor and novelist, Dale Stewart has sabotaged his career and his marriage - and now darkness is closing in on him. In the last hours of Halloween, he has returned to the dying town of Elm Haven, his boyhood home, where he hopes to find peace in isolation.

Summer of Night

It’s the summer of 1960 and in the small town of Elm Haven, Illinois, five twelve-year-old boys are forging the powerful bonds that a lifetime of change will not break. From sunset bike rides to shaded hiding places in the woods, the boys’ days are marked by all of the secrets and silences of an idyllic childhood. But amid the sun-drenched cornfields, their loyalty will be pitilessly tested.

Carrion Comfort

The Past...Caught behind the lines of Hitler’s Final Solution, Saul Laski is one of the multitudes destined to die in the notorious Chelmno extermination camp. Until he rises to meet his fate and finds himself face-to-face with an evil far older, and far greater, than the Nazis themselves...

The Elementals

After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses loom over the shimmering beach. Two of the houses are habitable, while the third is slowly and mysteriously being buried beneath an enormous dune of blindingly white sand. But though long uninhabited, the third house is not empty. Inside, something deadly lies in wait.

The Hollow Man

Jeremy Bremen has a secret. All his life he's been cursed with the ability to read minds. He knows the secret thoughts, fears, and desires of others as if they were his own. For years, his wife, Gail, has served as a shield between Jeremy and the burden of this terrible knowledge. But Gail is dying, her mind ebbing slowly away, leaving him vulnerable to the chaotic flood of thought that threatens to sweep away his sanity. Now Jeremy is on the run - from his mind, from his past, from himself - hoping to find peace in isolation.

Ilium

From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down upon a momentous battle, observing - and often influencing - the legendary exploits of Paris, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and the clashing armies of Greece and Troy. Thomas Hockenberry, former 21st-century professor and Iliad scholar, watches as well. It is Hockenberry's duty to observe and report on the Trojan War's progress to the so-called deities who saw fit to return him from the dead.

The Fifth Heart

In 1893 Sherlock Holmes and Henry James come to America together to solve the mystery of the 1885 death of Clover Adams, wife of the esteemed historian Henry Adams--a member of the Adams family that has given the United States two Presidents. Clover's suicide appears to be more than it at first seemed; the suspected foul play may involve matters of national importance.

Song of Kali

Blood will curdle in Calcutta. In the most crime-ridden city, nightmares become real and evil is defined by frightening occurrences. When an American family finds themselves encircled by the terrors of this land, lurid events befall them and life takes on a new meaning - death. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Song of Kali will chill the blood and frighten even the most jaded of horror fans.

Darwin's Blade

Darwin Minor travels a dangerous road. A Vietnam veteran turned reluctant expert on interpreting the wreckage of fatal accidents, Darwin uses science and instinct to unravel the real causes of unnatural disasters. He is very, very good at his job.

Flashback

The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom's wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he's lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result. Nick may be a lost soul, but he's still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor's son.

The Narrows

The town of Stillwater has been dying - the long and painful death of a town ravaged by floods and haunted by the ghosts of all who had lived there. Yet this most recent flood has brought something with it - a creature that nests among the good folks of Stillwater...and feeds off them. The children who haven't disappeared whisper the same word - "vampire". But they're wrong. What has come to Stillwater is something much more horrific.

Cold Moon over Babylon: Valancourt 20th Century Classics

Welcome to Babylon, a typical sleepy Alabama small town, where years earlier the Larkin family suffered a terrible tragedy. Now they are about to endure another: 14-year-old Margaret Larkin will be robbed of her innocence and her life by a killer who is beyond the reach of the law. But something strange is happening in Babylon: traffic lights flash an eerie blue, a ghostly hand slithers from the drain of a kitchen sink, graves erupt from the local cemetery in an implacable march of terror.

Burnt Offerings: Valancourt 20th Century Classics

Ben and Marian Rolfe are desperate to escape a stifling summer in their tiny Brooklyn apartment, so when they get the chance to rent a mansion in upstate New York for the entire summer for only $900, it's an offer that's too good to refuse. There's only one catch: behind a strange and intricately carved door in a distant wing of the house lives elderly Mrs. Allardyce, and the Rolfes will be responsible for preparing her meals. But Mrs. Allardyce never seems to emerge from her room, and it soon becomes clear that something weird and terrifying is happening in the house.

Hyperion

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

The Abominable: A Novel

The year is 1924 and the race to summit the world's highest mountain has been brought to a terrified pause by the shocking disappearance of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine, high on the shoulder of Mt. Everest. By the following year, three climbers - a British poet and veteran of the Great War, a young French Chamonix guide, and an idealistic young American - find a way to take their shot at the top.

The Night Parade

A father and daughter try to survive the steady decline of all they know in this haunting thriller from award-winning author Ronald Malfi. First the birds disappeared. Then the insects took over. Then the madness began. They call it Wanderer's Folly - a disease of delusions, of daydreams and nightmares. A plague threatening to wipe out the human race.

Hard as Nails

Ex-PI Joe Kurtz's survival is on the line when an ambush leaves him badly wounded and his parole officer, Peg O'Toole, clinging to life. Their respective professions have ensured that neither suffers from a shortage of enemies, so narrowing down the suspects isn't easy. But Kurtz knows who's at the head of his list: Angelina Farino Ferrara, the lethal beauty who leads the Farino crime family, and her mob rival, Toma Gonzaga.

Black Hills: A Novel

Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, first encounters General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at Little Bighorn. He believes - as do the holy men of his tribe - that the legendary general's ghost entered him at that moment and will remain with him until Sapa convinces him to leave.

Publisher's Summary

In a desolate orphanage in what remains of post-Communist Romania, a desperately ill infant is given the wrong blood transfusion - and flourishes when he's supposed to die. The discovery of his unique immune system may hold the key to the long-awaited cure for cancer and AIDS.

For a dedicated American doctor, he promises the medical breakthrough of a lifetime, as well as a very special love she's never been able to find. But he also conceals a shockingly intimate link to a clan of vampires and their legendary leader - the fiend the world calls Vlad Dracula, who, for centuries, has triumphed over countless rival tyrants, including death itself.

What the Critics Say

"Count Dracula kicks off the coffin lid again in this updated vampire tale....the book offers a mesmerizing tour through the ghostly, gray tatters of Romania." (Publishers Weekly)"Neatly ties the vampire legend into political history to create a new and clever twist to the idea of the vampire's craving for blood." (Library Journal)"Toothsomely well written." (Kirkus Reviews)

I read the print version a few years ago & quite enjoyed it. When I got the audiobook, I was looking forward to many hours' worth of chores being vastly more entertaining....but. The audio version bogs down occasionally, such as during the longer, more detailed CDC research discussions (& I'm a biologist & researcher myself!). The real problem with the audio version is the narrator. Mr Ralph has one of those whiskey/smoky gruff voices which I usually like, but his leaves me wanting to cough & clear my throat repeatedly. Also, he never pauses at appropriate spots --such as when between chapters or drastic scene jumps-- and it can leave the listener disoriented for a moment. Worst of all, when he alters his voice for the male characters, some end up sounding just like Rodney Dangerfield. I kept waiting for ex-husband Tom, who shows up a lot, to say "I don't get no respect!" or "Take my wife --please!" Jerks one out of the dark, suspenseful world of the book, to say the least.

I’m shocked and disappointed that this book got so many bad reviews. I have never read a Dan Simmons book that was less than masterful, and this book is no exception. As always, his research is impeccable, which allows him to make a distant world vivid. The characters are compelling (one of them is from Children of Night, where he is much younger).

Other reviews have complained of boring stretches and romance. Some parts go into biology details, but I found these parts fascinating (and they are important to the story). As for the romance, well, I have no idea why a love interest is a bad thing. The characters are human, after all, and humans have love interests, so it’s quite realistic. But even if you dislike a bit of romance, don’t let that deter you from reading, because it’s actually quite a small aspect of the book.

I enjoyed the reader. None of his voices are irritating, and one of them is done exceedingly well. I feel that his performance enhanced my reading experience.

If you can get through the mind numbingly brutal and despairing first few chapters which detail a trip to post revolution Romania by a cadre of wealthy industrialists, medicos and religious leaders the listener will be rewarded with an intriguingly 'modern' and unique twist on the legend of Dracula. While some of the science seems a bit stale and dated (considering the publication date of this novel that's actually impressive as one would think it would have grown trite by now) and some of the later plot twists are somewhat obvious. Nonetheless Simmons does an excellent job of creating a what if world wherein Vampires are very real and so is the son of the dragon. Now if only Summer of Night were brought to audio :)

Would you consider the audio edition of Children of the Night to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version, but I laughed when I read Kelly Howard's review after I finished it because I kept thinking Rodney Dangerfield too. I also felt that the reader didn't pause enough between chapters and scenes and it really left me unbalanced at times.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a new twist on the Dracula story and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Dan Simmons is one of my new favorite authors.

Vampires, kidnapped babies, scientific mysteries, international intrigue, romance, Dan Simmons....How could it have turned into such a tedious listen???? I am convinced that Mr. Simmons needed a way to make his trip to Hungary tax-deductible. He clearly did not give the plot of this novel much thought. As the reviewers have said, the narrator was not great (and some of the characters did end up sounding ridiculous), but the author was much more to blame for this audible failure.

This is like two books in one. You got this really gross gory story about Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) and then you have this chick story. They are thrown together, but not very well. I understand that DS has researched his stuff and this is kind of a historical fiction. I was turned off from the start, as DS decides that he must put down rich people who go to foreign countries to adopt children. He insults them several times in the first nine chapters and then his main character adopts a child from Romania! He goes into long boring descriptions of a lot of things. Parts of the book are as dry as reading Scientific America. I guess he wants everyone to know that he actually visited the area or that he can read a map, as there are a couple of parts of the book where they main characters take trips and we get a run down of the seven or eight highways they are going to take and when they are blocked the back roads they must take. There is one good sex scene which takes place between the main character and a priest. Most of the parts about Kate read like something from chick lit, while the parts about Vlad are quite the opposite. Warning when the narrator headlines Dreams of Blood and Iron, beware that a lot of very gross stuff is about to happen. I am always amazed at how cruel humans can be to each other. Vlad, who is several centuries old laughs at Hitler, as he is nowhere near as cruel as Vlad is and I have to agree. I probably should not admit that these were my favorite parts of the book. If he had just stuck to the story of Vlad the book would have been much much better. I never really cared for Kate. The narrator takes some getting used to, he is nowhere close to the late Frank Muller. Sometimes he gets his voice for his characters mixed up and all the males sound like biker dudes.

It is hard to believe that this was written by the same Dan Simmons who created Drood, The Terror, The Black Hills and the Hyperion series.

Most of his recent historical, horrorhh; novels such as Drood and Black Hills have been extraordinary. This makes Children of the Night; that much more hard to accept. Unlike his other work, Children is derivative and uninteresting. The story is not intrinsically bad. The tale of an American scientist to adopts a sick, Romanian infant and finds that the child is not only a vampire, but holds the key to curing countless diseases should keep our attention and give Simmons the canvas he needs to produce the challenging, thought-provoking that is his trademark. How it became this charmless drivel is beyond my understanding.

An accessory crime was committed by the narrator. His silly accents, inability to give most characters their own voice, and consistent mispronunciations add the final, unnecessary touch to this disaster.

Dan Simmons can be a brilliant writer, but that is not in evidence here. The characters are not well drawn, especially the main protagonist, Kate. Her character is totally improbable and really whiney. It may be the way the narrator chooses to voice her, but she is so whiney and self, or child, absorbed that I couldn't care enough about her or Joshua to enjoy the book. The narrator is good, but not great. He doesn't seem to pause in the best place and the inflections he uses really colored my view of the characters in negative ways. The male characters are much better written and the narrator's choices made the female characters even worse. The actual story isn't great, but this is still one book I wish I had "read" on paper.